NHL 15 Hasn't Updated Its Player Ratings Since Launch

Feature Article

Submitted on: 11/21/2014 by Jayson Young

Now 19 games into his 2014-2015 season, the 22 points tallied by Nashville Predators rookie Filip Forsberg currently tie Steven Stamkos and Phil Kessel for the fourth-highest total in the National Hockey League. Forsberg's +20 on-ice rating leads the NHL, placing five pluses ahead of the second-place skater, Vladimir Tarasenko.

It's been 10 weeks since NHL 15 launched, yet in the game, Forsberg remains the worst player in the Predators' lineup, tied with fourth-line grinder, Taylor Beck, for a team-low 77 overall rating.

While Electronic Arts has been quick to tweet out and blog up new roster file releases, the developer's half-hearted adjustments are only addressing injuries, transactions, and line assignments; to date, they've completely ignored player ratings. As of this writing, not a single NHL player has received a change to his overall rating since NHL 15 shipped on September 9.

As a result, hockey fans must manage ridiculous lineup situations, like Forsberg starting on Nashville's first line while simultaneously sporting the lowest attributes on the team, or seeing last season's NCAA player of the year, Johnny Gaudreau (14 points in 20 games), being graded only two overall points above Calgary's chief face-puncher, Brian McGrattan (27 points in 316 games).

NHL 15's lack of ratings corrections isn't just affecting up-and-coming talent, but also, the game's numerous has-beens, many of whom are holding onto “legacy ratings” that they no longer deserve. For example, Forsberg's 35-year-old, third-line teammate, Olli Jokinen, still has the fourth-highest overall rating among Predators forwards (84 overall), despite posting zero points over the same 18-game stretch.

This is, sad to say, business as usual for Electronic Arts' NHL franchise, which has historically delivered some of the most poorly rated, slow-to-update rosters in sports gaming.

The big difference this year, is that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners can no longer edit skaters' attributes to their liking, leaving early adopters of these new systems with no choice but to use EA's neglected, inaccurate ratings.

NHL 14 fans might also be wondering where last year's "dynamic roster updates" went. The much-hyped return of "hot" and "cold" player streaks was a frequently requested feature from the series' SEGA Genesis/Super Nintendo days. I guess, like most of the features from NHL 14, hot and cold streaks were simply cut from this year's game, without any formal announcement.

At a time when most other $60 sports titles are committed to updating their rosters on a weekly (and even daily) basis and allowing their users to share customized files, NHL 15's hands-off approach to roster editing embarrasses its developer and insults its declining playerbase.

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Member Comments

# 1 csamuelsvt @ 11/21/14 12:52 PM

this game has become a disaster and the above just shows it...such a shame.

# 2 TheKid40 @ 11/21/14 01:04 PM

Not only Filip Forsberg, but where is Jori Lehtera? Lehtera is still a 77 overall only at 26 years old; at least Forsberg has an opportunity to progress. Hopefully EA makes a worthwhile roster update soon.

# 3 Nomah5 @ 11/21/14 01:23 PM

Sad really. A total mess of a year. Hopefully new people are on for NHL 16.

# 4 @marcusjiles @ 11/21/14 01:25 PM

I dont play NHL, last time I did was on the PS1. But this is an utter disgrace and the fact they charged 60 bucks for it is so beyond inexcusable. Someone should have to answer for this.

# 5 snc237 @ 11/21/14 01:26 PM

The NHL series to my knowledge for the last multiple years have only done one ratings adjustment per year and then a monthly roster update. I was never a fan of the hot cold thing because they were to slow to update that as well for it to have a true meaning to the real life counterpart. I just expect this from the NHL series now as it obvious EA really give minimum funds and attention to the NHL team.

# 6 jake19ny @ 11/21/14 01:48 PM

I hate to keep beating the same drum but this could all have been avoided with player edit and total roster control. Roster sharing would be a bigger bonus so we could have the revamped roster project. Sadly I think EA is done fixing anything or adding anything to the game that is not HUT related. They also won't address any of these gripes either.

# 7 SVCbearcat10 @ 11/21/14 02:24 PM

I hate Madden's weekly ratings update. I don't think there should be frequent updates. Players go through hot and cold streaks, but eventually regress to their average ability. I don't want someone's overall bumped up 2 points because he had a week with 3 or 4 goals just to bump it down 2 points the following week when they go scoreless.

The most frequently ratings should be updated is at the quarter points of the season. That's a long enough sample size to say, yes.. this players abilities are actually better/worse than we thought. Anything more frequent is not reflective of one's true ability, thus not sim.

# 8 tyler289 @ 11/21/14 02:32 PM

Pretty much par for the course for these guys.

# 9 addybojangles @ 11/21/14 02:54 PM

But people asked for IMPROVED PRESENTATION so they focused their time on that.

/Sarcasm

After putting nearly one thousand games into both NHL 13 and NHL 14, news like this makes me very glad I voted with my wallet and skipped this year.

What an embarrassment.

# 10 MannTooth24 @ 11/21/14 04:13 PM

I didn't buy NHL this year for the first time in years because of the no EASHL deal. Instead of spending time on a roster update for NHL 15, I would rather them focus every minute on NHL 16, and making sure that they release a real, complete game next year.

# 11 Simple Mathematics @ 11/21/14 06:23 PM

Oh Revamped Rosters..... I miss you.

# 12 bukktown @ 11/21/14 08:13 PM

I wouldn't say that they are too late to update the ratings at this point in the season, but if they haven't by game 42 then I will be less forgiving.

# 13 speels @ 11/22/14 11:37 AM

I always find the rating adjustment just causes more problems. They do tend to increase people that are playing well, but they leave players who are having a bad year at their original rating anyway so you just get higher ratings overall.

Of course edit player and total team control would be the best, but we don't have them and there's no plans to add them so let's just let that one go for now.

Me and my buddies have a ball hockey group and we always have a get together around Christmas to have some beers and play some Sega Genesis hockey. This year we picked up NHL 97 for the Genesis and we were messing around with it and I started looking at the rosters and found them quite interesting.

NEW YORK RANGERS
|
| Even-Strength - 5th | Power-Play - 5th |
| Penalty Killing - 14th | Goaltending - 7th |
____|_____________________________________________ ____________________________
Pos | # | Players | Overall |
C | 11 | Mark Messier | 87 |
C | 12 | Ken Gernander | 67 |
C | 13 | Sergei Nemchinov | 75 |
C | 27 | Alexei Kovalev | 87 |

RW | 16 | Pat Verbeek | 75 |
RW | 18 | Bill Berg | 67 |
RW | 22 | Shane Churla | 71 |
RW | 37 | Daniel Lacroix | 67 |

LW | 9 | Adam Graves | 80 |
LW | 15 | Darren Langdon | 64 |
LW | 17 | Jari Kurri | 70 |
LW | 20 | Luc Robitaille | 75 |
LW | 24 | Niklas Sundstrom | 73 |
LW | 32 | Sergio Momesso | 74 |

RD | 23 | Jeff Beukeboom | 68 |
RD | 25 | Alexander Karpovtsev | 68 |
RD | 33 | Bruce Driver | 71 |
RD | 55 | Marty McSorley | 70 |

LD | 2 | Brian Leetch | 83 |
LD | 4 | Kevin Lowe | 66 |
LD | 5 | Ulf Samuelsson | 74 |
LD | 6 | Doug Lidster | 66 |

G | 35 | Mike Richter | 81 |
G | 30 | Glenn Healy | 71 |

Sorry it's not lined up better, but you see the point. The range on a good team like the Rangers is 66 to 87. Lemieux was highest at 100 along with a couple others, but the guys that weren't great were rated as such Gtrezky was only an 88 because of his decline in skills by then. Most teams in 15 are 80-100 now and that is the problem. I just wish when EA updated the rosters they would use this wider spread like they used to and make the 3rd and 4th liners play just like that.

# 14 Moose24x @ 11/22/14 04:20 PM

This is a real big problem in my life right now. I actually went and created new versions of Forsberg and Lehtera and moved the originals to national teams because they stand out as the most egregiously mis-rated players to me, but I can't do that for every guy like Hayes and Duclair on my Rangers or guys like Mirco Mueller who is playing regularly for SJ but is something like a 69. In the baffling - literally probably my biggest gripe with any game I've played this decade - absence of the ability to edit players, the LEAST EA could do is update the ratings now that we can see which rookies are sticking around, which young players have taken steps forward and which older players have declined.

# 15 brandon27 @ 11/22/14 06:10 PM

It's unacceptable IMO. After the shell of a game we got, they could at least support it with proper roster updates. If roster editing was in, it wouldn't be that big of a deal I guess, but as it stands, its just sad, and unacceptable.

# 16 pm83 @ 11/22/14 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speels


	Sorry it's not lined up better, but you see the point. The range on a good team like the Rangers is 66 to 87. Lemieux was highest at 100 along with a couple others, but the guys that weren't great were rated as such Gtrezky was only an 88 because of his decline in skills by then. Most teams in 15 are 80-100 now and that is the problem. I just wish when EA updated the rosters they would use this wider spread like they used to and make the 3rd and 4th liners play just like that.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they stop using wider scale years ago after some real NHL players were crying about their "low" ratings?

# 17 speels @ 11/22/14 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pm83


	Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they stop using wider scale years ago after some real NHL players were crying about their "low" ratings?

I think you're right, but I mean come on, you have the ability as a company to make the spread between 2 numbers be as big as you want. I could make the spread in speed between 98 and 97 as big as a spread between 90 and 60 if I wanted to.
I have no problem with the higher ratings for "political correctness" but make the spread wider between numbers.

Whiny bitches these players are!!

# 18 jyoung @ 11/22/14 11:53 PM

Sidney Crosby is the high point right now at 96 overall.

Capitals center Liam O'Brien is currently the lowest rated NHL player at 63 overall.

But that range is deceiving, because most of the 60-70 overall players on teams' rosters right now are rated that low because they were called up from the minor leagues, and then EA never updated those players' ratings above a "minor league" level.

The vast majority of NHL players in this game are clumped together in the 80-89 range, which is part of why there's no real separation in how players perform on the ice.

For comparison, the player ratings in NHL 94 ranged from 100 (Mario Lemieux) to 29 (Greg Smyth).

# 19 speels @ 11/23/14 12:33 AM

That being said, NHL games now have to makeup a range of skill levels as well. Back in 97 there was only the NHL, but now you have the AHL, CHL, etc. Until EA comes up with a "League level rating" that translates when you change leagues, we are going to have to endure these tight ratings. Let's look at Ekblad as an example. In the CHL he would be a mid to high 90, in the AHL he would be a mid to high 80, but in the NHL he would be a mid to high 70.

The thing is players come out of lower leagues with NHL calibre abilities, ie Morgan Reilly speed, but they come out with lower league mental abilities, ie Morgan Reilly defensive awareness. NHL needs to do a better job of not increasing player skills so much as the mental aspects of those skills. Morgan Reilly has the speed to keep up with NHL players, but he lacks the knowledge of how to stop them and how best to defend. A lot of player come up with the size to hit people, but the knowledge of when and where to hit them is learned.

I think for sports games to get it right in player development and roster development they need to pit the focus more on the mental aspects of the sports and less on the physical. In my scenario, shot accuracy is a mental aspect as is pass accuracy. Speed is physical , but getting open would be mental.

# 20 spidertour02 @ 11/23/14 02:20 AM

Quote:


	As of this writing, not a single NHL player has received a change to his overall rating since NHL 15 shipped on September 9.

Technically untrue -- Anthony Duclair of the Rangers went from a 69 overall to a 74 overall after the season opened.

The point is still a good one, though. There needs to be some happy medium between the schizo rating changes in Madden and the complete lack of changes in NHL. The starting ratings are a bigger problem, in my opinion, which seems to be what the article is really about.

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